Comfort and Joy

I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will
give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
Jeremiah 31:13

Monday, August 27, 2012

Last few weeks...

Life around here has been C.R.A.Z.Y with a serious capital C!  Between moving, stuff not making it for 15 days, starting school, starting a medical practice, being in charge of a race...life has not slowed down long enough to even sit down for very long much less blog.  Now that the race is over I feel like I can breathe a little.  So a little recap of the last few weeks:


Sweet friends took the boys a couple times so we could get a few things done. So thankful for good friends who take our children swimming so we can buy mattresses @jenniebrooks23
Untitled
I spent some time visiting with my precious first born...its good to be near his grave site again. It's good to be back in Memphis near this precious boy. Missed visiting with him.
We did a little celebrating before the first day of school. Eating a cupcake to celebrate 1st day of school tomorrow.
We started Pre-K.
First day of Pre-K
Untitled Untitled
We started Parents Day Out and slept in a big boy bed for the first time. Big day for Milker yesterday. 1st day of PDO and 1st time sleeping in a big boy bed.
Our stuff finally arrived after 15 days. Definitely a sight for sore eyes...15 days without your things is t.o.u.g.h!
I went on a date with my love to celebrate his first day of work. My hot date #ilovefreebabysitting
I obviously didn't get enough sleep before the race but there was so much to do that sleep had to come last.
Probably should have gone to bed earlier!  Forrest Spence 5k in T minus 8.5 hours.
The race was a success even though it rained (I will blog more about the 5k when I get the pictures back from my photographer). Start line of the Forrest Spence 5k
Untitled
So thankful to have this man by my side through all of life. Love this man!
So great to see some of my favorite NICU families at the race with their precious children (that is water from the rain not sweat on my shirt).Loved seeing my precious NICU families at the race! @chuviolin @bethanychu
2 of our very favorite families stayed with us over the race weekend. So thankful the McGuigans and Robinsons they made the trip! Truly a wonderful weekend!  Loved having 2 of our closest friends and their families stay with us this weekend. @kaceemcguigan
My naked chef helped me cook dinner.
My naked chef
There is a lot more to blog about but I'm tired and have tons more to catch up on.  Be back soon!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Road trip recap

We made it to Memphis last Monday but unfortunately are stuff didn't make it.  The truck from Boston is taking 16 days.  What?!?  Definitely ridiculous but what can you do.  We thankfully had a Pod in Memphis that we left for 14 months that had a few things but right now we are pretty much living in an empty house.  There were some cross words shared with our friends over at United Moving Company. Not sure if they picked the right woman to mess with...20 weeks pregnant, a 2 and 3 year old, and 2 weeks away from the biggest event she puts on...this woman needs her stuff!!!  We are praying it makes it by Wednesday.

I took pictures along the way on our road trip for memories.  The road trip really was wonderful.  The boys did awesome and we were really proud of them.  The longest drive was a little over 7 hours.  Every other day we tried to keep it closer to 5 or less.  We watched lots of movies, colored, played with toys, and made numerous stops.  It was so great to catch up with old friends along the way as well.  Definitely something we will look back upon and smile!

Road trip day 1: packing up the house, loading the car, saying goodbye to our Boston apartment, and driving as far as we could make it.

Goodbye Boston, hello Memphis (in a week)
Road trip day 2: waking up in a hotel in Danbury, CT, watching movies in the car, stopping for lunch, ending the day in Washington, DC meeting David's high school best friend's new baby boy, Whit.
Road trip day 2...woke up in a hotel in CT, stopped to eat lunch, on our way to DC Road trip rest of day 2...David meeting his high school best friends son Whit then eating Mexican with friends

Road trip day 3: touring DC, seeing the White House, Washington monument and Lincoln Monument, enjoying the Air and Space Museum, seeing an old college friend who works in the Senate, and taking hard naps.
Road trip day 3...the White House, the monuments, Air and Space Museum, then out cold asleep...good day in DC
Road trip day 4: longest drive of the trip (7 hours) and staying with great friends in Huntersville, NC.
Road trip day 4: said goodbye to DC, 7 hours in the car, seeing friends in Charlotte.
Road Trip Day 5: drove from Charlotte to Knoxville, spent the night with wonderful friends and enjoyed catching up and seeing their home and children.
Road trip day 5: drove from Charlotte to Knoxville, spent the night with wonderful friends and enjoyed catching up and seeing their home & children.
Road trip day 6: driving from Knoxville to Nashville, seeing our sister and brother in laws new home, and playing with cousins. 
Road trip day 6: driving from Knoxville to Nashville, seeing our sister and brother in laws new home, and playing with cousins.
Road trip day 7: making it to Memphis and seeing our new home! Untitled

Monday, August 6, 2012

Bar Harbor, ME

A couple weekends ago we took a long weekend and headed north to Bar Harbor, ME.  Its about 5.5 hours north with no traffic and unfortunately it was closer to 7.5 with traffic on the way home.  I want to be honest before I post the beautiful pics that make our trip look wonderful that it was H.A.R.D.  The trip was exhausting.  The boys were in rare form and just not easy to deal with.  Miller was so difficult in the car on the way up there that I thought I might go into a looney bin (not encouraging as we are currently driving 1400 miles home to Memphis).  Once we got there, the boys didn't want to nap, they were restless, disobedient, and really just difficult.  I thought I was going to pull my hair out majority of the weekend.  I have decided you can't call trips vacations anymore because really they aren't vacations with 2 small children...they are trips.  But after some time I now look back on the weekend with a smile on my face and very thankful we went.  Bar Harbor, Maine is one of the most beautiful spots I have ever visited in my life.  The weather was incredible and the city and surrounding areas were gorgeous.  I am going to let the pictures do the rest of the talking for me.

Our first day we went hiking in the Acadia National Park.  It was truly beautiful because you would be hiking along and come across the most amazing view of the ocean.  Breathtaking!
Untitled Untitled IMG_7280
Austin walked the entire 1.3 miles. He was fussy a few times and wanted to be carried some but overall he did great.
IMG_7283
Miller had quite the perfect set-up.
Untitled IMG_7286
Like I said...the views were incredible!
IMG_7288 IMG_7290
My biggest love and I walking on the cool "bridge". IMG_7294 IMG_7295 IMG_7296 Untitled IMG_7297 IMG_7303 IMG_7308 IMG_7310
After we finished the hike we drove back towards the little town we were staying and saw some beautiful sights as well.
IMG_7311 IMG_7315
IMG_7337 IMG_7339 IMG_7342 IMG_7344 IMG_7345
That night we went to dinner at a family friendly restaurant (we learned our lesson the night before from going to a not so family friendly restaurant). The boys loved the Lobster outside the restaurant. Untitled Untitled Untitled
After dinner we sat by the harbor and watched the boats come dock. Untitled Untitled Untitled
After hanging out in the harbor we headed back to the hotel to put the boys to bed and then we would sit on the balcony watching the sun set. This was our view of the ocean. Untitled
On Sunday we went on a horse and carriage ride through Acadia. Untitled Untitled IMG_7317 IMG_7320 IMG_7323 IMG_7326 IMG_7327 IMG_7330 IMG_7332 IMG_7335
We ended our weekend with a little time in the center of town playing, running, and throwing rocks in the water.
Nothing better for little boys than throwing rocks in the ocean. IMG_7346 IMG_7348
Thankfully the boys took a good long nap on the way home.  Worn out from our weekend in Bar Harbor, ME. Praying they sleep for a while.
We highly recommend a trip to Bar Harbor.  We even looked up flights from Memphis to Bangor and they weren't terrible.  A 2nd trip is on our bucket list for the future for sure.